Towel cabinet



April Z9, 1930. F. M. STEINER Al.

TOWEL GAB I NET Original Filed June 5, 1922 INVE/vToH-s FRA/vif M. rf/NER /1/ -EH'6. G1R/W /77' TOR N: ra

v 10 inet, making it convenient to Patented Apr. 29, 1930 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK M. STEINER, F MINNEAPOLIS, `MINNESOTA, AND WALTER S. GRAVES, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSUURI, ASSIGNORS T0 STEINER SALES COMPANY, 0E SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, A COBIYORATION 0F UTAH Y TOWEL' CABINET Application led June 5, 1922, Serial No. 565,802. Renewed April 28, 1929.

4The objectvof our invention is to provide a towel cabinet or holder in which a supply of reserve toweling can be kept ready for immediate use when the first roll is exhausted, thus relieving the janitor or laundryman of the necessity of making frequent trips to supply the cabinet withl clean toweling.

A further object is to provlde'improved Ymeans' for supporting the towelinglin the cabt e delivery point andreadily accessible for the laundryman.

A further and particular object is to provide a cabinet of such construction that the user can easily have access to the reserve towel, but he must pull it out from the measurin device or feed roller, and the first towel put mto use must be carried across or over the feed roll and stop.

2o A further object is to provide improved means for regulating the feed of the clean towel.

A further object is to provide improved means to prevent the withdrawal of the .soiled towel from the cabinet by any mischievous person or a user who is unfamiliar with the operation of the device.

Other objects of the invention w1ll appear from the following detailed description.

3o The invention consistsgenerally 1n various constructions and combinations, all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims. y

In the accompanying drawings forming lpart of this specification,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a towel cabinet embodying our invention,

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view showing the feed limiting device in itslockingposition,

Figure 3 is a similar view'showing the device when tripped by the user to allow the delivery of the towel,

Figure 4 is a sectional viewon the line 4--4 of Figure 1.

Inthe drawing, 2 represents the base of the cabinet, having suitable supporting legs 3 and a chamber 4 for the soiled toweling, said chamber having a door 2a for the removal of said toweling. The front of the 50 cabinet near the top has an opening 5 through which access may be had-to the clean toweling and at the top of the cabinet is a cover 6 hinged to the rear wall at 7 and adapted to be raised to allow access to the clean towel containing compartments and the feed roll.

In the rear of the opening 5 and adjacent towel-rolls 12 and 12Et are placed. A feed 'roll 13 journaled at its ends in the side walls of the cabinet is provided beneath the cover 6 and near theopening 5 and slightly above the roll 12a and over this feed roll the web of clean towel is stretched t o depend within the cabinet in the rear of the opening 5 in position to be conveniently grasped by the user and drawn'forward through the openingto a using position. The opening in the front of the cabinet is a suitable distance from the floor to allow the user to apply the web of clean towel to the hands or the face, as desired.

Below the opening 5 in the upper part of the soiled towel compartment is a plate 14C hinged at 15 to the front of the cabinet and having its inner end provided with a series of pins 16 which engage the -web of towel and should the user or any other person attempt to withdraw the soiled end of the towel from the cabinet, this plate will be raised to the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 and contacting with the lower portion of the wall 8 will be checked in its upward movement and the pins engaging the web of toweling will positively prevent its withdrawal from the cabinet, while allowing suiiicient slack to enable the person standing in front of the cabinet to use the clean sectionof the towel conveniently. Stops 17 are mounted on the side walls of the cabinet to engage the plate 14 and limit its downward movement, supporting it at such an an le that the pins will surel engage with t e soiled towel web should t ere be any attempt to withdraw this web from the cabinet. In

be manipulated by the user be must be released, or tripped by the user, as A they have found it effects a considerable economy in the amountof toweling used. Many persons, rather than take the trouble of operating the stop device to obtain an additional feedof the towel, will use a clean area of the towel that has been already-drawn out by the previous operator and thus a roll of towel'will last much longer than when the feed is entirelyv automatic and only a pull ,l on the towel is requiredto obtain a predetermined,` length. Y

At one end of the feed roll 6 we prefer to provide a box or easing 18. dog 19 is pivoted at 20 therein and is provided with prongs 21 and 22 projecting througha slot in the box to a point nearthe periphery of the roll 13 and said roll has a pin 23 in its periphery in position to engage these prongs alternately and move the dog from one position to the other. For instance, as shown in Figure 2, the pin 23 is in conta-ct with the prong 21 and thereby the roll is locked and no feed of the towel can be obtained. Near the lower end of the dog is a slide 2 4 projecting outwardly through the wall of the cabinet and having a push button 25 thereon. A recess 26 is provided in the lower edge of said slide to receive a pin 27 on the lower end of the dog 19. The inner end of the slide has a rounded surface 28 to contact with an incline 29 and a compression spring 30 normally tends to force the slide downwardly to the position shown in Figure'2. When the user presses the button 25, the slide will be pushed in and the engagement vof the end wall of the recess with the pin 27 will swing the dog 19 from the full line position in Figure 2 to the dotted line position in said ligure, moving the prong 21 out of the path of the pin 23 and allowing the feed roll to make one complete revolution. The oscillation of the dog 19 moves the prong 22 into the path of the pin 23 so that when this pin is released and passes the prong 21, it will soon after `engage the prong22 and -draw the dog back to the dotted line position in Figure 3, again setting the prong 21 in theA path ofthe pin 23.- This will happen whether the user keeps his finger on the push-button or removes it. The feed roll can only make one complete revolution with each inward movement of the slide and if the user releases the slide immediately after disengaging-the prong 21 from the pin 23, .the dog will be set in its locking position to prevent more than one revolution of the feed roll, regardless of whether the user keeps his linger on the push-button or removes it. That is immaterial. I The locking device set with each revolution of the feed roll to prevent more y than one revolution with each operation of the slide. When thel door 6 is raised or is open as when the supply of clean towel lis inserted,

the attendant may easily and quickly stretch the towel over the delivery roll, and arrange to have the web hang down the desired disvtance without the necessity of dragging it over the delivery roll and repeatedly manipulating the lock device to allow the roll to be revolved.' Furthermore, when the door is closed, a person standing in front of the cabinet would not be able, because of the proximity of the door to the. feed roll, to raise the web out of engagement with the roll and draw out an unnecessary length of web from the cabinet. Hence the user will be obliged to manipulate the release of the lock device and by so doing obtain a'suitable'lcngth ofl access to the back, as it can be readily filled with the clean towel and the soiled towel removed by the attendant standing in front of the cabinet. In using the cabinet the deliv, ery feed roll willvbe released by the mech` anism described, and then the user may pull out a certain predetermined length of clean the gate 14 will positively prevent the soiled web from being pulled out of the cabinet.

We claim as our invention: l. A towel cabinet comprising a casing having an opening in its upper walls for access to the clean towel, a feed roll above and adjacent said opening and over which the web of clean towel is delivered, and a plurality of towel compartments in the rear of and beneath said feed roll, one of saidcompartments being adapted to contain the roll of towel from which the web is conducted over said'feed roll, and the other compartment being adapted to contain a reserve towel roll to be placed in said first compartment when the roll therein is exhausted said second compartment being accessible'only through the first compartment whereby all of the first roll of toweling must be removed from said first compartment before the second roll can be used.

2. A towel cabinet comprising a casing having an opening in its upper walls for access to the clean towel, a feed roll above and adjacent said opening and over which the web of clean towel is delivered, and a plurality of towel compantments in the rear of and beneath said feed roll, one of said compartments being adapted to contain the roll of towel from which the web is conducted over said feed roll, and the other compartment being adapted to contain a reserve towel roll to be placed in said first compartment when the roll therein is exhausted said second compartment being accessible only throughv the first compartment whereby all of the first roll of towelin'g must be removed from said first compartment before the second roll can be used, and a movable shelf interposed between said compartments and supporting the roll from which the towel web is being fed.

3. A towel cabinet comprising a casing having an opening in its upper walls for access to the clean towel, a feed roll above and adj acent said opening and over which the web of clean towel is delivered, and a plurality of towel compartments in the rear of and beneath said feed roll, one of said compartments being adapted to contain the roll of towel from which the web is conducted over said feed roll, and the other compartment being adapted to vcontain a reserve towel roll to be placed in said first compartment when the roll therein is exhausted said second compartment being accessible only through the first compartment whereby all of the first roll of toweling must be removed from said first compartment before the second roll can be used, and a hinged shelf separating said compartments and adapted to be raised to an upright position to allow the convenient movement of the reserve roll from one compartment to the other.

4. A towel cabinet comprising a casing having a compartment in the lower portion for the soiled toweling and an opening in its upper front wall, a feed roll arranged above and near said opening and over which the clean towel web is delivered, a partition provided beneath said feed roll in the rear of said opening and co-operating with the rear and side walls of said casing to form towel compartments, one above the other, the upper compartment being adapted to contain the roll from which the web is delivered over said feed roll, and the lower compartment being adapted to contain the reserve towel roll and accessible only through the first compartment, the top o said casing having a hinged section which, when raised, allows access to said towel compartments and said feed roll.

5. A towel holder comprising a support for the clean towel, a feed roll over which the clean towel is fed, a dog for normally locking said feed roll against revolution, said dog having a pin thereon, a slide having a recess to receive said pin and actuated by the finger of the user for movin said dog to its releasing position, said dog aving means actuated by said roll for positivel returning said dog to its locking position a ter the initial movement of said roll, means for guiding said slide upwardly out of enga ement with the pin on saiddog when inwar pressure is applied to said slide, and a spring normally tending to return said slide to. its enga ing position with said dog when pressure o the user thereon is released.

6. A towel-cabinet comprising a casing having an opening in its upper walls for access to the clean towel, a feed roll above and adiacent said opening and over which the of clean towel is delivered, towel compartments in the rear of said feed roll opposite said opening, one of said compartments being adapted to contain the roll" of towel from which the web is conducted over said feed roll, another compartment being adapted to contain a reserve towel, a guard extending upwardly from the reserve towel roll between it and said opening.

7. A towel hplder comprising a support for the clean towel, a feeding means therefor having a stop, and a feed limiting device comprising a member having a pair of arms, one of them normally in the path of said stop to lock said feeding means, the other arm being positioned in the ath of said stop when said member is move to its release position for positively returning said member/to its locking position before said feeding means completes its movement, a slide having a recess to loosely receive said member, whereby said member may become disengaged from said slide and positively returned to its locking position independently of the movement of said slide.

8. A towel cabinet having an open top and means therein to support a supply of clean towel, the upper front portion of the said cabinet having an opening therein merging into said top opening through which the user may reach the clean towel web, a feed roll in the upper front portion of said cabinet having a rouhened surface over which the clean web may e stretched from the towel supply to depend in the rear of and adjacent said front opening, a coverfor said top opening, the said cover having a downwardly extending front portion shielding said roll, whereby when the said cover is raised the clean towel web may be drawn up and stretched to form a loop of the desired length at the front of the cabinet while out of contact with said roll to facilitate loading the cabinet.

9. A towel cabinet comprising a casing, a feed roll mounted in said casing adjacent the front of the cabinet and over which roll the web of clean towel may be stretched from a towel supply, said cabinet having a towel delivery opemng, the web of clean towel being lll' adapted to normally depend from said feed roll where it may be conveniently reached by the user, said feed roll havinga peri heral lug thereon, a lever pivoted intermedmte to its ends below said feed roll and'having a reoessed artvabove its pivot conforming substantiall to the curvature of said roll and provided7 with two s aced terminal prongs, one of which norma y engages said lu to lock said roll, the second prong, by the initial release movement of said lever, being moved into the path. of said lug, said lever being oscillated and said first named prong returned to its normal lockin` position by the engagement of said lug with said second prong upon the initial movement of said roll, and an operating device for said lever, the said device being freely connectible and disconnectible from said lever and having one end thereof projecting outwardly through a wall of said casing, whereby the towel user may first mani ulate thelever to release said feed roll and t en vpull outwardly and downwardly on the towel web to revolve said roll and simulaneously return said lever to its locking posi- In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 27th day of May, 1922. FRANK M. STEINER. WALTER S. GRAVES. 

